Since the advent of the electrolytic reduction process for producing aluminum, the anodes used have been made of carbon which is consumed during the electrolytic reduction process. In the more recent past (20 years) there has been an effort to produce an inert anode or electrode that is not consumed during reduction. Metal anodes, ceramic anodes, and cermet anodes have been proposed for development. According to published patents, the best available practice to produce a ceramic anode heretofore has been to mix metal oxide powders with a binder, press the mixture at very high pressures, then sinter at high temperature. Specifically, nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) powder has been mixed with a binder, and the mixture pressed and sintered to make the ceramic anode. The manufacture of a nickel ferrite powder is a complex and expensive process. The subsequent processing of the nickel ferrite by blending and mixing with an organic binder, followed by pressing at high pressure, then followed by sintering at high temperatures (greater than 1300 C) for long times, is also quite complex and expensive.